Hanukkah begins with icy lights

Jeff Benson

Hanukkah’s Festival of Lights traditionally provides the Jewish

community with increasing inspiration and warmth for eight days and

nights each year. But it appears that warmth will unfortunately melt

a 7-foot, 400-pound menorah ice sculpture in a single evening.

The Jewish calendar dictates that Hanukkah begins on a different

day each year -- and tonight’s the night.

To kick off Hanukkah, religious leaders from Chabad Jewish Center

in Newport Beach will kindle the frozen menorah in a public ceremony

at 5:30 p.m. The event will be held at Bloomingdale’s Courtyard at

Fashion Island.

These candles may outlast their candelabra. Chabad Jewish Center’s

Rabbi Reuven Mintz said he expects the menorah to liquefy overnight

and become a puddle by tomorrow morning, long before the polarizing

conclusion of the eight-day religious holiday.

The menorah’s eight candles are used to symbolize a one-day supply

of oil that miraculously lighted the defiled Temple in Jerusalem for

eight days, said Temple Bat Yahm Rabbi Mark Miller. The Maccabees had

just liberated the Temple from the Greeks in the 2nd Century BCE.

On the eighth day, Jews light the eighth candle and the Shamash --

the servant candle used to light the others, Miller said.

City Councilman Steve Bromberg, who served as the first Jewish

mayor of Newport Beach, will light the first candle tonight.

He and his wife Ronnie received the Jewish National Fund’s

Guardian of Israel award last month for their commitment to the

Newport Beach community.

The lighting of the ice sculpture’s candles will also mark the

12th time Chabad Jewish Center has held the event at Fashion Island.

The center built a similar ice sculpture two years ago.

“We try to create something exciting every year,” Mintz said.

“Last year, we made the world’s largest menorah out of chocolate. But

we always look to be leaner and more health-conscious.”

No one can contest that this year’s version has fewer calories

than last, but the whole melting problem still remains. Miller

contends that no one should sweat the menorah’s premature melting or

the inevitable fizzling out of its candles.

“Should we have to rekindle it?” he asked. “Judaism says no. Our

job is done, and it’s up to God to decide what happens with what’s

put up there. It’s up to God whether the flame burns or not.”

But Chabad Jewish Center has a backup plan. The center has already

placed five-foot, nonmelting menorahs that should stand the eight-day

test in 15 Newport Beach supermarkets.

The center originally planned to construct a menorah out of canned

food that it would eventually donate to Orange County’s hungry, but

plans fell through, Mintz said. He still vows to do it next year.

“Our organization helps programs in various foster homes, shelters

and hospitals,” Mintz said. “We not only bring joy to those who make

it to Fashion Island, but also to where people need it most. But I

guess we didn’t realize how challenging it could be.”

Participants who attend tonight’s event can also enjoy gifts,

treats, face painting, a children’s choir and have their pictures

taken with Hanukkah story hero “Judah the Maccabee,” the leader of

Jerusalem’s liberation from the Greek empire.

* JEFF BENSON covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at jeff.benson@latimes.com.